Sanctification

Sanctification is a process God works in us once we have submitted our lives to Him.  When we surrender and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, He starts to work in us.

The Holy Spirit moves in and begins the process of cleansing and renewing.  This cleansing is real, internal, and ongoing.  He starts the regeneration of our hearts and our lives.

This is called Progressive Sanctification and is the life-long, Spirit driven, process by which the believer becomes more and more like Christ in character, desires, and conduct.  It is a daily growth in holiness that follows salvation, empowered by the Holy Spirit and expressed through obedience, transformation, and perseverance.  It is progressive in that it does not happen in a moment.  It unfolds over years – through Scripture reading, prayer, trials, repentance, and again obedience.

The Holy Spirit is the driving force if sanctification.  He produces new desires and cultivates His fruit within us – “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” – Galatians 5:22-23.

The process of Sanctification is not passive.  God works in you, but He calls on you to have a role in the process.  You are to:

• Pursue intimacy with God – Regular Scripture reading that renews the mind and prayer that cultivated dependence.  Add to this worship that reorients the heart.

• Practice obedience – Obedience trains your heart to prefer God’s ways over your own.

• Walk in repentance – Repentance clears the debris that slows spiritual growth.  Confess your sins honestly and turn from them.

• Rely on the Holy Spirit – The Spirit is the engine of sanctification; you are the participant, not the source.

• Engage in community – Isolation slows sanctification; community accelerates it.

• Practice Spiritual Disciplines – Key disciplines include; fasting, meditation on God’s word, Scripture memorization; and service to others building up the body.

• Guard Your influences – You cannot pursue holiness while feeding on what opposes it.

God will use the trails of your life to produce endurance, your suffering to refine your character and will correct you to produce holiness.  God wastes nothing in your life in this process. Over time progressive sanctification will make you to be more humble, patient, loving, obedient and aligned to God’s will.

Sanctification is the work of God’s grace by which you are made holy, set apart, and transformed.  It is the shape of the Christian life and it frees us from sin.  Scripture teaches imperfect but growing sanctification now, and complete, flawless sanctification in glory.  Believers never reach full sanctification on earth, but will reach it perfectly when they see Christ face-to-face.

Sanctification begins with a choice to follow the Holy Spirit. Set aside a quiet place where you meet with God daily—open His Word, slow your pace, and let Scripture shape your desires. Sit long enough for the Spirit to speak, convict, comfort, and reveal His will. Pursue Him with intention, and He will transform you from the inside out.

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless a the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

- 1 Thessalonians 5:23